Resolution of advice and consent, Treaty Doc. 99-12A

TEXT OF RESOLUTION OF ADVICE AND CONSENT TO RATIFICATION AS REPORTED BY THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Resolved, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of the Protocol of 1984 to Amend the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, subject to the following reservation, understandings and declaration: ~Reservation Notwithstanding Article III, paragraph 4, of the Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, as amended, to the extent that oil pollution damage in respect of any one incident may exceed the total amount recoverable under said Convention (Liability Convention), the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (Fund Convention), as amended, and the applicable U. S. Federal oil pollution liability and compensation statute, claimants may seek recovery of their uncompensated damages in courts of competent jurisdiction of the States of the United States, including its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia, pursuant to applicable State statutes and common law, after remedies available under the Liability Convention, the Fund Convention, and the applicable U. S. Federal oil pollution liability and compensation statute have been exhausted, except that in any such action under a State statute or common law for such uncompensated damages, no claimant shall be entitled to assert any substantive or procedural right based on any provision of the Liability Convention or the Fund Convention. ~Understandings (1) The United States understands that the definition of pollution damage in Article I, paragraph 6 of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, as amended by Article 2, paragraph 3 of the 1984 Protocol thereto, does not exclude reasonable and directly related loss of tax revenue to the United States, its States and territories and subdivisions thereof, and the District of Columbia. (2) The United States understands that nothing in the Protocol of 1984 to Amend the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, prevents any claimant from combining damage awards from two or more incidents which have injured the same or adjacent resources to fund a restoration project which addresses those incidents. (3) The United States understands that the definition of pollution damage in Article I, paragraph 6 of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, as amended by Article 2, paragraph 3 of the 1984 Protocol thereto, includes loss of profit or impairment of earning capacity caused by damage of the environment by an oil pollution incident. (4) Any damages not compensable due to the definition of pollution damage in Article I, paragraph 6 of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, as amended byn Article 2, paragraph 3 of the 1984 Protocol thereto, or by any future interpretation of the Liability Convention as so amended, may be provided for by laws of the United States, its States, territories or the District of Columbia. (5) The United States understands the definition of pollution damage in Article I, paragraph 6 of the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, as amended by Article 2, paragraph 3 of the 1984 Protocol thereto, to include loss of use of subsistence resources. (6) The United States understands the definition of pollution damage in Article I, paragraph 6 of the International Convention jfor Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, as amended by Article 2, paragraph 3 of the 1984 Protocol thereto to include directly related and reasonable costs of investigation, assessment of damage and court costs, excluding defense costs. ~Declaration In accordance with Article 13 of the Protocol of 1984 to Amend the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969, the United States declares that its instrument of ratification of that Protocol shall be deemed not to be effective for the purpose of said Article 13 until the end of the 6-month period described in Article 31 of the Protocol of 1984 to Amend the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, 1972.